Economy
Renewed Interest Rate Worries May Weigh on US Stocks
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Thursday, with stocks likely to extend the pullback seen in afternoon trading on Wednesday.
A jump in U.S. treasury yields sapped buying interest in the previous session, and the major averages subsequently pulled back well off their best levels but managed to end the day in positive territory.
The ten-year yield spiked to its highest level in over seven years following the release of upbeat employment and service sector data, leading to concerns about aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
In remarks at the Atlantic Festival in Washington, D.C. after the close of trading, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told Judy Woodruff of PBS that interest rates are ?a long way from neutral? even after recent increases.
?The really extremely accommodative low interest rates that we needed when the economy was quite weak, we don’t need those anymore. They?re not appropriate anymore,? Powell said.
?Interest rates are still accommodative, but we?re gradually moving to a place where they will be neutral,? he added. ?We may go past neutral, but we’re a long way from neutral at this point.?
Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department?s closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
Stocks saw notable strength in morning trading on Wednesday before giving back some ground in the afternoon. Despite the pullback by the major averages, the Dow still ended the session at a new record closing high.
The major averages closed in positive territory but well off their best levels of the day. The Dow rose 54.45 points or 0.2 percent to 26,828.39, the Nasdaq climbed 25.54 points or 0.3 percent to 8,025.08 and the S&P 500 inched up 2.08 points or 0.1 percent to 2,925.51.
Upbeat economic data contributed to the early strength on Wall Street, although buying interest waned as the data also raised concerns about the outlook for interest rates.
Before the start of trading, payroll processor ADP released a report showing stronger than expected private sector job growth in the month of September.
ADP said private sector employment jumped by 230,000 jobs in September after climbing by an upwardly revised 168,000 jobs in August. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 185,000 jobs.
“The labor market continues to impress,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP
Research Institute. “Both the goods and services sectors soared.”
“The professional and business services industry and construction served as key engines of growth,” she added. “They added almost half of all new jobs this month.”
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly jobs report, which includes both public and private sector jobs.
The report is expected to show employment climbed by about 188,000 jobs in September after jumping by 201,000 jobs in August.
A separate report from the Institute for Supply Management showed an unexpected acceleration in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in September.
The ISM said its non-manufacturing index climbed to 61.6 in September from 58.5 in August, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the service sector. Economists had expected the index to dip to 58.0.
With the unexpected increase, the ISM said the non-manufacturing index reached its highest level since the inception of the composite index in 2008.
Financial stocks turned in some of the market’s best performances on the day, as treasury yields soared following the upbeat economic data. The ten-year yield reached its highest level in seven years.
Reflecting the strength in the financial sector, the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index and the KBW Bank Index surged up by 1.6 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.
Significant strength was also visible among energy stocks, which moved higher along with the price of crude oil.
On the other hand, gold stocks came under pressure on the day after ending the previous session sharply higher. After surging up by 3.6 percent on Tuesday, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index dropped by 1.4 percent.
Interest rate-sensitive utilities, housing, and commercial real estate stocks also moved to the downside amid the jump by treasury yields.
**Tinubu Says Economy on Steady Growth
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
President Bola Tinubu has been praised for the ongoing financial and fiscal reforms in the country and encouraged to pursue a stronger partnership that supports investments, youth training, and employment.
The chief executive of Deloitte Africa, Ms Ruwayda Redfearn, who led a delegation to visit Mr Tinubu in Abuja on Wednesday, said the global organisation is primarily focused on digital and business transformation, with over 500,000 employees worldwide working across various roles and locations, including over 6,000 in Africa, adding that her accountancy firm’s revenue was $74 billion in 2025.
“We are here before you to say that we want to serve. We have a local team on the ground that is ready, as well as the global firm, to support you and support your administration as you lead the country,” she said.
Also, the chief executive of Deloitte West Africa, Mr Yomi Olugbenro, assured President Tinubu of the firm’s support for the reforms.
“We do what we do because of the philosophy that our African CEOs talk about – making an impact that matters. Where we are at the moment, we believe that the ground has been solidly laid. There is a need to truly extract more value and deliver the dividends of democracy to ordinary Nigerians on the street. The bigger work is really about how to cascade some of those big reforms further down.
“We do believe that with the capabilities that the firm has all over the world, with the half a million people that our CEO spoke about, we have use cases, examples, and experiences of how we supported nations all around the world, so Nigeria will definitely benefit from those experiences.
“So, that is why we are here, and we welcome the invitation that you may grant us as to where exactly you want us to support you,” he stated.
In his remarks, Mr Tinubu informed his guests that his administration’s reforms have steadily stabilised the economy over three years, with growing plaudits for positive development and growth indicators.
“We are following the example of Deloitte’s greatness to change things from the foundation, building the necessary future for our people.
“Yes, reforms are difficult. It has not been a McDonald’s customer relationship but a harvester of good things, if implemented well, and that is what we are about.
“Thank you for your partnership in paying attention to what we are doing here, as we have heard from the Minister of Finance about the fiscal, revenue and tax reforms that have taken place and are moving the nation forward.
“The reforms on revenue will continue to stimulate growth. And the effect of the reform? Yes, some issues are difficult to take the bitter medicine, but it is working well. For the economy, Nigeria is making serious foundational progress,” he stated.
The President said the reforms had stimulated the economy, strengthened the fiscal and revenue sectors, repositioned financial institutions, and prepared the country to be more globally relevant and competitive, urging Deloitte Africa to improve its impact on the Nigerian economy by training and recruiting the dynamic youth population.
“The family of Deloitte; you just reminded me of my cradle years in accountancy and where I cut my childhood accounting teeth in Chicago. Deloitte has a good training programme, and I believe you will continue to reflect that,” he added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices fell on Wednesday after the United States’ attacks against Iranian military installations that aimed to limit its ability to strike shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent futures declined by $1.11 or 1.31 per cent to $83.62 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures lost 81 cents or 1.02 per cent to close at $78.53 a barrel.
Attacks worsened a supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed prior to the war’s outbreak.
The US military said it had hit dozens of military targets near the strategic waterway and Iranian coastal areas in strikes lasting seven hours. In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday it had struck American military targets in the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
The US military said its fresh strikes on Wednesday against Iran’s coastal defence systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites were “designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The US alleged that said Iran had “intentionally” targeted civilians and attacked seven commercial vessels over the previous week, leaving roughly a dozen crew members dead, missing or injured.
The hostilities between Iran and the US reignited last week, breaking an already fragile truce reached in June after several months of fighting. The collapsed ceasefire precipitated a new crisis in the waterway, and Iran threatened to close all other export corridors that benefit the US and its allies.
The US Energy Information Administration reported a 1.7 million-barrel drop in US crude inventory last week. The American Petroleum Institute (API) had estimated that crude oil inventories in the US fell by 564,000 barrels in the week ending July 10.
Goldman Sachs estimated in a note that Gulf exports recovered to more than 80 per cent of pre-war levels after the US-Iran memorandum of understanding in June but slipped back below 50 per cent, or about 11 million barrels per day, over the last week.
The bank said Brent could exceed $110 in the fourth quarter this year if the Gulf export recovery continues to stall.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) will, at the Commercial Bid Conference, announce the successful bidders for 50 oil and gas blocks in the 2025 Licensing Round on July 21, 2026.
The regulator said the conference would conclude an eight-month licence round that began on December 1, 2025, after President Bola Tinubu approved the exercise under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
The commission said the 50 blocks include 15 onshore, 19 shallow-water, 15 frontier and one deep-offshore block, covering basins such as the Niger Delta, Chad Basin, Benue Trough, Anambra and Bida.
It said the round aims to attract about $10 billion in fresh investment and to unlock discovered but undeveloped fields, fallow assets and gas resources. NUPRC described the 2025 round as the third licensing exercise under the PIA framework and stressed it is designed to prioritise natural gas development.
NUPRC outlined a five-stage process for the round — registration and pre-qualification, data acquisition, technical bid submission and evaluation, and the commercial bid conference — followed by ministerial approval and contracting. The Commission said it notified pre-qualified applicants on March 16, 2026, and closed technical and commercial bids on June 12, 2026.
NUPRC chief executive, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, had said the selection would be merit-based and would exclude weaker applicants.
She said only candidates with strong technical and financial credentials, professionalism and credible development plans would advance, and that winners would be chosen on a weighted combination of technical and commercial scores.
To widen participation, the federal government fixed signature bonuses for the round in a prescribed range of $3 million to $7 million per block, the Commission said, adding that bids outside that range would be non-compliant and excluded.
NUPRC said it would resolve the tied highest bids within the range by conducting a sealed rebid for the signature bonus, adding that successful bidders will receive Petroleum Prospecting Licences (PPLs) and may elect either a Concession or a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) framework, noting that the choice of framework will determine fiscal terms for up to two decades.
The agency noted that bidders were required to present host community development plans and to commit to remit 3 per cent of operating expenditure to Host Community Development Trusts. It said decarbonisation objectives and broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements were mandatory parts of submissions.
It warned that applicants with government debts, those that had previously failed to develop licences “vigorously and in a business-like manner,” or those found non-compliant with applicable laws could be disqualified at any stage.
The regulator said it expects ministerial approval and formal contracting between July and October 2026, after which awardees must execute concession contracts before licences take legal effect.
Recall that during the 25th Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week in Abuja, the NUPRC issued PPLs to 12 companies across 19 blocks from the 2024 round. The Commission named recipients, including Boron Energy Limited, Energy Marketing and Supply Limited, Sahara Deepwater Resources Limited, Tulkan Energy E&P Company Limited and said that the exercise showed the licensing pipeline was functioning.
